League of Legends patch 6.17 takes aim at the jungle, many other changes

Patch 6.17 will be the final large patch before Worlds rolls around this fall, and Riot Games is making the most of it. This will likely define the meta going into League’s biggest stage.

For too long, Rek’Sai and Gragas have been the de facto royalty of the jungle. The pair has dominated the jungle for the past year, and Riot has finally decided to do something about it. Both have had their mobility skills’ cooldowns increased so that they can’t Tunnel (Rek’Sai) or Body Slam (Gragas) more than once per gank. Gragas’ ult now also has a fixed travel time rather than scaling with distance. These changes are going to be huge for the meta, as it should open it up to more possible junglers.

Speaking of which, jungler buffs! Vi’s Q and passive have had their cooldown reduced, while her E automatically gets charges. Evelynn’s ult has had its cooldown reduced from way too long (I love Evelynn, and that’s always bummed me out) to a bit more reasonable.

As for non-jungle buffs? (Deep breath…) Diana’s E pulls champions further, Draven’s ult has had its cooldown reduced, Ezreal’s passive attack speed buffs were increased, Jace’s E now costs less while his ult scales off AD instead of AP, Jinx’s ult now scales harder, Kennen’s empowered autoattacks now work like his regular ones, Malphite’s W now gives more armor and scales harder, Morgana’s Black Shield’s range is now longer, Orianna’s Shockwave now costs less mana and comes up more regularly, Poppy now runs faster and gets more resistances on her W, Riven does more damage with her ult, Ryze’s new fancy ult now travels further at first rank, Thresh’s ult’s cooldown is decreased, Vayne’s Tumble does more damage late, and Veigar gains more AP on kills and assists (and exhale).

Bot lane players will rejoice with nerfs to both Ashe (Q duration decreased, ult damage decreased) and Jhin (W scaling decreased, ult base damage down while its execute was increased). Both AD carries have been dominating their roles for a while now; it’ll be fun to see who rises from the depths with their departures.

There’s a lot to take in here. For the full details, check out the patch 6.17 page.

Taylor Cocke’s head is spinning from trying to figure out how these changes will affect Worlds. Follow him on Twitter @taylorcocke.